Customer service expert Ron Kaufman has a radical notion that great service shouldn’t be as hard as it seems to be for so many businesses to deliver. “Service is everywhere,” says Kaufman, author of the new book Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Customers, Colleagues and Everyone Else you Meet. “But there’s a disconnect between the volume of service we need and the quality of service we are giving and receiving. Businesses have turned a simple concept into a catastrophic cliché. They remain blind to the fact that true service comes not from demands and dashboards, but from a basic desire to take care of other people.”

Here are five keys to making exceptional customer service part of your business DNA:

1) Start by instilling a service orientation in your business.

Unfortunately, when most small businesses hire someone new, the part of new orientation that relates to customer service is often nonexistent. “This is your desk; this is your password; those are your colleagues; these are the tools we use. Welcome to the organization. Now get to work.”

“Service orientation goes far beyond induction,” says Kaufman. “Zappos is an example of one company that really gets this. Its four-week cross-department process is an example of new-hire orientation at its finest—deeply embedding and delivering on the company’s brand and core value, ‘Deliver WOW Through Service.’ Zappos understands that new team members should feel informed, inspired, and encouraged to contribute to the culture.”

2. Establish an engaging service vision.

A clear and engaging service vision will unify and energize everyone in your business to aim high for customer service. It doesn’t matter whether you call this building block your service vision, mission, core value, guiding principle, credo, motto, slogan, saying, or tagline. What matters is that your engaging service vision is actually engaging.

3. Communicate your service goals.

A company’s service communications can be as big and bold as signs in the front of the store proclaiming your commitment to customer satisfaction, or as simple as including employees’ hobbies or passions on their nametags. Service communications are used to educate and inform, to connect people, and to encourage collaboration, motivate, congratulate, and inspire.

“They’re essential because they can be used to promote your service vision, showcase your new hires, announce your latest contest, explain have you measure good service, and give voice to your customers’ compliments and complaints,” says Kaufman. Service communications keep your people up-to-date with what’s happening, what’s changing, what’s coming next, and most of all what’s needed now.

4. Offer service recognition and rewards.

Service recognition and rewards are vital building blocks of a service culture. They are a way of saying “thank you,” “job well done,” and “please do it again” all at the same time. Recognition is a human performance accelerator and one of the fastest ways to encourage repeat service behavior.

“While money may seem like the most obvious reward for employees, it isn’t always the most effective,” says Kaufman. “An auto dealership I know of learned this lesson the hard way. It paid its sales team a special bonus for achieving high levels of customer satisfaction. But when bonus payments were curtailed during a sales slump, customer satisfaction levels also fell.”

Genuine appreciation makes a more lasting impact on any employee. And there are tons of great ways to reward and recognize. You can do it in public, in private, in person, in writing, for individuals, or for teams. You can do it with a handwritten note, a standing ovation, tickets to a concert or ball game, an extra day off, dinner for the family or many other ways.

5. Create a common service language.

The whole domain of service suffers from weak clichés, poor distinctions, and inaccurate common sense. “Oh, you want service?” an employee asks. “Well, you’ll have to talk to our service department.” Or, “You want something else or something different? That’s not our policy.”

“We create meaning with language, and we can change our world by inventing or adopting new language. Your common service language should be meaningful and attractive—a shared vocabulary to focus the attention and the actions of your team. It should clarify meaning, promote purpose, and align everyone’s intentions and objectives,” says Kaufman.

About the Author: Daniel Kehrer, Founder and Chief Content Officer of BizBest Media, is a senior-level leader in digital media, content development and online marketing with special expertise in startups, SMB, social media and generating traffic, engagement and leads. He holds an MBA from UCLA/Anderson and is a passionate entrepreneur (started 4 businesses), syndicated columnist, blogger, thought leader and author of 7 business and financial books.

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